Socratic Conversations

“Pass It On” TV commercials from Values.com were the experimental learning modality used at the monthly meeting of the Socratic Conversations on Thursday, September 18th. In Lights! Camera!! Values!!? the group explored their basic values by responding to one-minute dramatic pieces on significant themes, like believing in yourself (courage and perseverance), making a difference (generosity …

Let’s just call it your….HOME!
That was the Design challenge that was happily addressed at the recent Socratic Conversation (5/29) conducted by Ron Gross.
Each participant began by identifying four major values which they sought in designing their living space, and then shared one which they felt would be unique in the group – and …

FRIENDSHIP, which seems like such a simple concept when you’re browsing at the rack of Hallmark greeting cards in the drugstore, turned out to be problematical – but rewarding -- when it was examined deeply, wittily, and movingly, at the monthly Socratic Conversation conducted by Ron Gross on Thursday, April 17th.
Each participant drafted a “Friendship Credo” …

Happy 2014! Marshmallows-on-sticks to hand, a group of 16 conversationalists gathered in the Socratic circle to fire up the New Year. While books on display focused on themes of gratitude, commitment, and life change, comments on the flip chart sparked thoughts for new beginnings:
Better health.
Finding three new good friends.
Need more income to …

An aspiring group of urban re-designers met recently to share ideas at one of the Library's monthly Socratic conversations on how to improve the quality of life in New York City. Suggestions covered a gamut of inspiring possibilities -- greater sociability and concept of the neighborhood, more green environment, less waste, active citizenry, stronger schools, …

Twenty-two brave souls addressed this question at the Library's monthly Socratic Conversation on November 7th, conducted by Ron Gross. They started by viewing an arresting short video of the renowned psychologist Carl Jung, author of Modern Man in Search of a Soul, talking to his own soul, illustrated by beautiful paintings from his famed Red Book. Jung's colloquy began: …

Creative Aging was the subject of a Socratic Conversation with Ron Gross on Thursday, May 30th. Participants discussed new ways to thrive and contribute throughout our ever-longer life-spans -- for our parents, our grandparents, and for ourselves -- if we're lucky!
Gross began by noting that Socrates himself reached the peak of his powers at …

"LOVE Now" was the subject of a Socratic Conversation on Valentine's Day, in which a couple of dozen discussants looked at the topic from as many different angles: romantic love, of course, but also love of country, love of family, love of God, love of humanity, and...yes, love of learning!
One participant, noting the …

Who can argue with Progress? Everyone, it seemed, at a spirited Socratic Conversation on that subject among a dozen diverse TC students on December 6th. Several of the conversants remarked that their quality of everyday life had declined over the past few years -- attributing war, economy, rising tuition, job scarcity, and recurrence of natural disaster. …

As New York continued to struggle with the devastating aftermath of Sandy, participants in the Socratic Conversation conducted by Ron Gross on November 15th struggled with the learnings emerging from the experience.
Photojournalist Diane Cohen exemplified such learnings: “Finding myself alone in the dark, I began to realize that the independence I had always assumed …

Socrates himself found humor so irresistible that he couldn't resist making jokes about his prosecutors and about his Athenian jurors, when he was on trial for his life -- thus getting himself into even more hot water!
That observation launched a laugh-filled -- but at times sharply philosophical colloquy -- about humor, at the Socratic Conversation conducted …

Who Changed Your Life? was the question which propelled the SOCRATIC CONVERSATION conducted by Ron Gross on August 9th.
The session opened by noting President Obama's observation that "none of us have achieved what we have achieved in life, on our own. We all had people who were crucial to our development: teachers, parents, friends...." Then, …

Do You Have a Professional Credo? Should You? These were the questions which propelled the Socratic Conversation conducted by Ron Gross on July 12th.
With the timely approach of annual performance appraisals, we shared our professional credo detailing five core characteristics of library staff -- a credo holding strong since its 2004 conceptualization:
Individually Agile and …

Should Money Buy EVERYthing? This was the question which propelled the Socratic Conversation conducted by Ron Gross on June 14th, inspired by the new book on that subject by Harvard professor Michael Sandel.
The participants explored the ethical issues raised by such current practices as paying students to get better grades, selling tickets to "free" …

“Can We Stop Wars?” was the subject of the Socratic Conversation conducted by Ron Gross on Friday, May 3rd -- and a prevailing view of the discussants was "Follow the money!" A conflict resolution practitioner with experience ranging from Israel/Palestine to the Philippines said, "All wars are really over economic interests." Another participant advised: "If …

In a supremely Socratic conversation How Can We Make Good Things Happen? we learn about people’s favorite ideas to help others --organizing a community program to assist an elderly woman “on a stoop,” converting an empty hospital into a homeless shelter run by and for the homeless, providing low-cost education and training to adults in …

Our recent Socratic conversation brought up many interesting observations, chief among them:
The sheer entanglement of factors: conscience, reason, science, emotions, religion, tradition, upbringing, education, law, honor, fear, biology.
We can’t always explain the motivations for doing the right thing.
There are differences between a civic society and a moral one.
We need to listen …